The first record I ever bought myself, was a copy of Cyndi Lauper's "The Goonies R Good Enough" on 7 inch and I still have it today. I inherited the family stereo in primary school when it got upgraded and I bought the record on a trip to K Mart for like $2 or something. I was a huge fan of the Goonies and liked the song, so why not? Apparently Cyndi loathes it and refuses to play it live. Boo Cyndi, boo!

The Pride of the Fleet

I have a test press of Miles Away's "Worlds Apart" 7 inch that Bridge 9 released as a bonus with preorders of the Champion "Time Slips Away" CD that holds a special place in my collection. Having released the band's first EP through Common Bond Records and helping them join Bridge 9 to release their music in the US is something I'm pretty proud of achieving. So to have a test of their first ever release on the label holds a bit of meaning.

The Boneless and Postblue records I pressed under Rest Assured Records are important to me as well for much the same reasons. Pressing your own releases is probably the ultimate step in collector nerdom and I highly recommend it.

Also my test press of Mindsnare's "The Death" is something I really treasure, as it's probably my favourite release of theirs and they have long been one of my favourite Australian bands.

The Hen’s Tooth

I think the rarest records I own are probably some of my test pressings. I have a test press of Massappeal's "Jazz" LP pressed by Vinyl Solution, a label owned by the Stupids that released the record in Europe. In high school I had a tape copy of this record and played it to death and it's remained on high rotation since.

Well technically I have half of the test press, as it was a double LP, released as "Jazz - Sides A & B" and "Extra Jazz - Sides C and D". I have the "Extra Jazz" LP test. My friend Billy tipped me off to it on Ebay about 10 years ago. The seller had mispelled the band's name as Mass Apeal and listed the double LP test as two seperate test pressing listings. Billy had already bought one of the tests, not realising that it was a double LP set. So I bought the other one for 4 Euros. Neither of us realised the mistake until the records arrived. I didn't really mind as I was just happy to have a test of "Jazz" regardless.

Years later Billy sold his copy to Grant who plays in Hostile Objects and Damage Zone for an undisclosed amount. I like knowing the whereabouts of the other half and Grant is as big a Massappeal fan as I am, so I'm glad it's in his hands. Last year Grant asked me to fill in on vocals for his thrash band Damage Zone for a festival in Melbourne. We played a couple of Massappeal covers with former members Dave Ross and Kevin McCrear jumping up to play drums and bass. It felt like the universe was complete and 15 year old me got to fulfill his fantasy 30 years later.

To this day I have never seen a test of "Jazz" pop up and it is seriously still one of my favourite records ever and I own a test press of it, not many people get to say that.

Not Cheap

I'm actually a bit of a tight arse when it comes to buying records in comparison to others. I generally prefer to seek out a bargain, rather than throw down big money for something, even if I've been after it for a while. The most I've paid for a record is my Waterfront copy of Nirvana's "Bleach" on blue vinyl that set me back around $200 posted from the UK of all places. I picked this up a few years ago after I'd been looking at buying a copy for ages, but was always put off by the price. By today's standards the price I paid was relatively cheap in comparison, and of course the ultimate irony is for the money I paid, I could have picked up every colour variation from Waterfront when they originally came out, but alas I was a poor teenager back then and stupidly just bought a copy on tape.

White Whale

I'm currently chasing a few things:

Toe To Toe "Election Night" 7 inch - I know a guy who has 3 copies, my plan is to outlive him and acquire them somehow.

Mindsnare / Numb "Split" 7 inch on glow in the dark - the missing piece in the puzzle of my Mindsnare collection.

Celibate Rifles "But Jacques The Fish" 7 inch - Ideally I'd prefer an EMI Custom version over a Hot Records version but these start at like $200. Pretenious arsehole much?

When I first started really buying decent records as a young teen, I was right into metal and I had a few early Alberts presses of AC/DC, along with some Maiden and Metallica LPs as well. Then when I discovered punk and hardcore I regretfully traded them all in for cheap. Over the years I've been trying to replace them, but it's hard to justify $50 - $75 on records you bought and sold for $5 or $10. I did pick up an original 1982 EMI Australia press of Iron Maiden's "Number Of The Beast" from Glebe Record Fair recently for $15 which I was pretty stoked on finding.

Bargain Buy

For the past 6 years I've worked close to Red Eye in Sydney and go in there quite regularly on lunch breaks to kill time. One day I came across a Trafalgar copy of Radio Birdman's "Radios Appear" for $30, while next to it was the sealed reissue for $35. I couldn't believe my eyes, burned my eye even, as Red Eye had reissued the Birdman boxsets before, so surely they'd know the value of the record. About a month later same thing happened, only this time it was the first US press that had the Sire catalog number on the front for $30 while the reissue was sitting there for $35.

Most recently I found a copy of the Hard Ons "Yummy" on green in Revolve for $30. I also once found a first press copy of the first Danzig record in Egg for $30 too. One of my faves is that I paid 99c for a sealed copy of the Unbroken 3 X LP discography off Craigos on Ebay before the kids figured out they were good. Once at a record fair I purchased a Toys Went Beserk 12" EP for $10 without checking the record and when I got home I discovered it was a test press.

Are you a completist or collector of any band or label in particular:

About 8 or so years ago back when when the AU dollar was higher than the US, I used to collect a lot of US hardcore (Revelation, New Age, Dischord, Bridge 9 etc). But then when the AU dollar dropped in value and the US hiked their postage rates I kind of switched to collecting a lot of Australian stuff instead. Mainly bands I grew up listening to like the Celibate Rifles, Hard Ons, Massappeal, Proton Energy Pills, Hellmenn, Cosmic Psychos, Radio Birdman, Exploding White Mice, Nursery Crimes etc.

Also a few years ago I decided to collect the entire Waterfront Records back catalog of 180 odd releases. Some of it is hit and miss with the odd questionable indie band, but for most part it's records I longed for in my youth, but couldn't afford at the time, so its a bit nostalgic to collect. I'm currently about 30 releases short of completing this feat. Lately I've also been trying to complete my Reactor Records collection along with accumulating a lot of the first wave of Australian hardcore releases. I've also been on the hunt for stuff from Australian labels like Phantom, Au Go Go, Dog Meat, Aberrant, Mr Spaceman, Citadel etc.

A bit of all of the above really, though I don't really trade records. I prefer the thrill of finding a record in a second hand store or a record fair than buying a copy from someone in Europe on discogs or Ebay. I have a rule that if postage is more than the value of the record, then I won't buy it online. Some of my biggest bargains and best finds have come from second hand record stores recently.

Most memorable experience acquiring a record?

One year at the Glebe Record Fair there was a mother and daughter selling off their deceased husband / father's record collection of mainly Australian stuff from the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was like an archive of every local record released in that time frame, truly incredible collection. I bought a stack of about 20 records and was informed they were going to do the Rozelle markets to sell off the rest of the collection, as apparently this was only half of it. So I went to see them a few times at the markets, each time picking up a pile of records. I'd always have a good chat with the mother, as in some way I felt guilty because of the circumstances surrounding the sale of the collection. We ended up exchanging phone numbers, and she'd message when she was going to sell at the markets. Each visit they would tell me they'd be bringing different records next time, as there were thousands of 7 inches in the collection. I really came to admire the extent to which this person I'd never met had collected records. After a period of around 8 months she messaged saying she was going to do a final stall at the markets and was bringing everything left over to sell for half price. A lot of records I picked up that day were for roughly $2 -$5 and it was a goldmine. I bought the Loved Ones s/t 7" for $2 and a copy of the Magic Box LP for $5, which is 1970s pricing really. It was every collector's wildest fantasy come true, and in total I probably bought over 250 records from that collection. It made me wonder what will become of my own collection when I'm gone too?

Represses. Do they devalue collections or add to them? Do you fuss over the press of records?

Quite often I buy represses if I really like the record and an original press goes for an astronomical value. Generally I try and buy first presses of everything, but sometimes I'm happy to just own whatever press of the record I can afford and or find really.

I did pick up an original Face To Face selftitled LP on Vagrant Records recently, only for Fat Wreck to announce a repress of it a month later. Fortunately I only paid half of the current asking price, but still I felt a little ripped off as it had been out of press for 20 years.

Autographed records. Do you own any, did you get them signed yourself and do you think it makes them more valuable?

I actually own a few signed copies of records that I've picked up over the years. Most of them have been cheap too and some of the records are signed by band members who have passed away and I've freakishly acquired them months before it's happened, which I'm sure are no doubt now considered more valuable.

Funnily enough my grey copy of Mindsnare's "The Death" is signed, but the dunce who I bought it off got the band to sign the shrink wrap and not the actual cover. Getting Mindsnare to sign something is hilarious in itself to me and is not something I've ever considered, despite how big of a fan I am.

The only times I've ever asked a band to autograph something was a Descendents Australian tour poster from an instore at Utopia that hangs proudly on my wall as I am a massive fanboy, and I also got Ray and Porcell from Youth Of Today to sign some of my records when I was fortunate enough to tour manage them when they were out in 2013. In hindsight I kind of regret doing so, as they both wrote comments or lines from the tour which I get and can relate to, but are kind of lame now. Most of the records are standard Revelation represses, but my Wishing Well copy of "Break Down The Walls" is kinda trashed. Stupidly I forgot to get them to sign my Ray & Porcell 7 inch, as that was my favourite in joke of that tour was that someone in the crowd in Perth yelled out "what are you looking at out the window" in regards to the cover photo.

Guilty pleasure or secret shame?

I really, really love Australian 80s pub rock and collect a lot of it as well. I have a lot of Angels, Spy vs Spy, Hoodoo Gurus, The Hummingbirds, Lime Spiders, Screaming Tribesmen records of multiple pressings along with the staples of Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, The Radiators, Inxs, Australian Crawl, Sunnyboys and Rose Tattoo in my collection.

As for something shameful, I have a test press of the Noise Addict "Young and Jaded" 10 inch released through the Beastie Boys record label, Grand Royal. It is a terrible record, like ear splittingly bad, totally unlistenable. I can only figure that Evan Dando somehow bribed the Beastie Boys to release it, but yet I can't bring myself to sell it. I think the attraction is that it's a Grand Royal test press, even though I hate Ben Lee very, very passionately. I will perhaps consider trading it for something on my list of records I am chasing above.

What’s the absolute limit you would ever pay for a record?

I'm very inconsistent with what I consider too much for a record. Sometimes I'll opt out of something if it's over $30 and then other times I have no problem with paying $75 as an impulse buy. Given the most I've ever paid was $200, I think that would be my limit roughly.

Just to emphasise my inconsistency. A friend of mine tipped me off to a test press of the first Celibate Rifles S/T LP "Five Languages" for sale in a random antique store down the coast for $100. Now in reality, given this was a very revered record released in 1984 over 30 years ago, a test press is impossible to find anywhere, yet here one was. Also considering I am a massive collector of Rifles' records it should have been a given. Over the course of about 10 months I would check in on the record to make sure it was still there and have an inner debate about buying it. Finally tax return time rolled around and I decided to go and buy it. As luck would have it, the record was sold the week before.

Best tip you can offer a potential collector?

Never look a gift horse in the mouth thinking you're the only one who'd be interested in a record and that it will be there next time. Learn from my story above.

Are record collectors all really pretentious arseholes?

To a varying degree, yes most are. Am I though? Of course not.

Look me up on Discogs - RyanWillmott if you have something you think I'd be after?